Thank you to everyone who signed the petition against the use of diclofenac in Europe - in the hope that we don't impact vultures in the same way as they were in Asia.
My old friend Mic Mayhew used to run a veterinary Practice and here's a guest blog that gives you a different perspective ...
Griffon vulture, taken by Roger Tidman
As a born again conservationist and someone who has spent two decades negotiating with veterinary pharmaceutical companies and treating livestock with NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories), this makes my blood boil.
The issue is so straightforward, so how can it be that these “brainless” drug companies don’t get it? The truth of course is that they do get it and they are anything but brainless. Instead they have made a conscious decision to value shareholder profit above the conservation of biodiversity.
Over the years I have done business with the brightest and the best. They know that NSAIDs decimated vulture populations in India. They probably also know about the explosion of feral dogs and the rabies epidemic that killed an estimated 50000 children, but they operate in a system where the drive for profit and growth stifles corporate social responsibility.
The trouble is NSAIDs are great drugs. They have revolutionised the treatment of disease and injury in the livestock industry and generate huge revenues for the veterinary pharma companies in a highly competitive marketplace.
It is no surprise then that FATRO-eager to secure market share-is racing ahead with the manufacture and distribution of Diclofenac in Spain and Italy.
Griffon vultures, taken by Roger Tidman
We are probably deluded if we think we can change the corporate ethos of multinational pharma companies, but if the RSPB and its European partners stand together and present the evidence to veterinary and drug regulatory authorities, I believe they can secure a future for vultures and eagles in Europe.
Academic discussions about the ability for raptors to recycle nutrients and prevent disease are unlikely to convince the authorities to withdraw diclofenac from the market. Equally, many dogs are routinely vaccinated against rabies in southern Europe and recovering populations of large mammalian predators could replace raptors as effective scavengers of fallen livestock.
Griffon vulture, taken by Mike Lane
The most powerful argument to make is that a safe alternative to Diclofenac is licensed for the treatment of farm animals in the EU. Meloxicam is effective and has a similar range of veterinary applications, and so there seems to be a simple solution to this problem that would support the livestock industry and safeguard European raptor populations.
Perhaps a million signatures from a million members would convince these corporate buffoons that it is immoral and profoundly contradictory for an animal health company to license a drug that is an effective treatment in farm animals and a lethal toxin in raptors.